


Oaths and Injuries.

by biblio_witch



Series: On My Whole Heart. [Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.] [3]
Category: Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016), Pride and Prejudice and Zombies - Jane Austen & Seth Grahame-Smith
Genre: F/M, Graphic Description, Sexual Content, Sexual Tension, otp
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-20
Updated: 2016-02-20
Packaged: 2018-05-21 23:26:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6062053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/biblio_witch/pseuds/biblio_witch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Elizabeth has been injured and Darcy whole-heartedly blames himself, the carriage ride back to Rosewood is tense as a result.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Oaths and Injuries.

The carriage gave a shuddering jolt, and Elizabeth hissed in response as she was jerked from one side to the other. She attempted, in vain, to stop the noise from escaping her lips, but the pain that lanced through her thigh wasn't letting up just because she didn't want to worry her husband-to-be. 

Of course, she knew that Darcy was keeping a watchful eye on her, and wasn't surprised at all when she felt his hand enclose around her arm and the other settle on her knee. 

"Elizabeth," He said, voice laced with worry. 

"Stop fretting," She scolded immediately, squeezing her eyes tight and leaning back against the plush felt of the seat. "I'm fine." 

"Ah, of course, because gritted teeth and a blood soaked dress are often indicators to a person's perfect health." His hand left her arm and settled with his other hand on her leg. But Darcy - contrary to the opinions of some - was a perfect gentleman, especially when it came to handling her. Instead of hoisting up her dress to inspect the wound high on her thigh, as he'd done after the battle had ended and he'd been frantic with worry, he simply plucked helplessly at the muslin layers of her dress. 

She glanced down at her dress, and all right, there were a few spots of blood. It was hardly enough to warrant the trembling in his hands. Especially in the low light of the lit sconces near the ceiling of the closed carriage, you could barely see the blood. 

"Don't be so dramatic." She let loose an absent chuckle. "It's merely a flesh wound. You bound it tightly." 

"And yet the blood has soaked through." His nose was scrunched up in a way that Elizabeth knew meant he was frustrated. No doubt he wanted to inspect the wound, but etiquette said he could not lift her hemline. She smiled at his predicament. "We must stop. You can tend to the wound and wrap it again. I won't risk you being permanently effected because of my own foolishness."

"I invited myself along on the journey." 

She had, of course she had. She wouldn't allow him to go to the Summons estate on his own, and if she could do it over again then her course of action would be exactly the same. They'd encountered more than one horde of zombies on the road, and if Elizabeth hadn't been there then Darcy would have surely died. It was a close call when he'd been yanked from his horse just a few miles from their destination, and only Elizabeth's soul-wrenching panic and determination had allowed her to move fast enough to haul them from him before he'd been overwhelmed and bitten. 

The task of killing his friend had taken it's toll on Darcy, and he'd had to lean on her heavily throughout the grim day. Never letting her go for a moment, whether it be clenching her hand all throughout lunch, or enfolding her in his arms for a long while before he'd gone into Henry's room to carry out the deed, and afterwards, he'd come into her room without knocking, collapsed before her and laid his head in her lap to weep softly. 

It had been the next day, with them due to travel home in the evening on horseback, that Elizabeth had been walking with Henry's widow in the garden, doing her best to console the distraught woman, when there had been a shriek from the stone courtyard. Elizabeth, reckless and wild as always, had rushed to aid. 

Several zombies were ascending on a gaggle of people that she knew to be relatives of the Summons residents. She rushed towards them, threw herself into battle, and she'd won. Not before she'd been battered just a little, and one of them had given her a deep, ghastly wound on her thigh with its sharp and broken nails. 

Darcy came rushing towards her, face pale with fear and anguish. The way people were crowding tight around her made him assume she'd been bitten, and he'd yanked up her dress right there to look. 

Still, neat liquor had been poured on the cut to rid it of any infection, and then he'd bound it for her. Brian Summons - the head of the house - had immediately offered one of the carriages to send them home in. Elizabeth had insisted she could ride, but Darcy would hear nothing of it. 

"And I let you come with me." He growled, shaking his head. "For my own selfish weakness." 

"Darcy," Elizabeth sighed, reaching to hook a finger under his chin to tilt his gaze towards her. "There is nothing weak about grief, nor about needing help every once in a blue moon. There was no 'letting' me, I'd have followed you even if you'd disagreed." 

"You swore you wouldn't throw yourself into danger." The words were spoken through gritted teeth. 

"And what was I to do? Let those people perish?" 

"If it meant your own well-being? Yes!" 

"So I was to let a family - already stricken by loss - lose several more members? And _your_ friend, Henry? Let his family die?" She snapped back, glaring. "You would have done exactly the same, William, and don't you dare try and tell me otherwise." 

He chose his next words carefully, knowing with the use of his first name that she was dangerously close to blowing up like a vengeful volcano. 

"Do you know what went through my mind when I saw you lying on the floor? All those people staring down at you in horror?" 

"Yes but I wasn't bitten-" 

"It doesn't matter." He spoke over her, quiet but firm. "I thought you had been, and in that split second before I was able to move again, I felt my heart crack in my chest. Felt the world disappear beneath my feet. Everything around me stopped, and that one single moment lasted what felt like decades and in that moment, there was only this deep, soul-twisting grief. I felt it in my bones, this aching, awful loss." 

"William," she whispered, reaching for his hand. He clasped it with both of his, tight enough to hurt. 

"That was all I could feel, Elizabeth. I knew then that I wouldn't survive it, the loss of you from my life. It was so agonising I wondered if my heart would just give way right then. If it didn't, then I was sure to stop it beating myself, just to end that pain." 

"You can't think like that," She gasped, immediately panicked, staring at him in shock and horror. "What about Georgiana? What about Bingley? You could never-" 

"I wouldn't," He told her sharply, his gaze hard and jaw clenched as he stared out the window. "Of course not. But I would be no better than one of the undead. I would be walking around without a beating heart, forever grieving your loss until I was permitted to stand again at your side." 

"Are you asking me to stop?" She murmured. This is what she had feared. One of the reasons she loved him so was his admiration of her skills, his utter and complete support of it. 

"No," Darcy scoffed, turning back to give her a small smile. "Have you asked me to throw down my sword? I wouldn't do you the dishonour." 

"Then what, exactly, _are_ you asking?" 

"I ask that you not risk yourself so willingly." He leaned in to wrap his hand around the back of her neck, thumb stroking her jaw. "To think before you charge, to know when a cause is lost. I know today it wasn't and I admire what you did for them, but when the safety of others is compromised you fight recklessly and with abandon. All I ask is that you hold your own safety in such high regard too." 

"And does this apply to you too?" She narrowed her eyes, "If I am to make this promise, will you swear it too? You fight just as wildly as I, and never have I seen you consider your own life before rushing into battle. Need I mention Lazarus Church?" 

He winced, but there was the blooming of amusement in his dark eyes, the storm of his heavy thoughts finally passing. 

"I knew you would use that against me." He sighed. 

She poked him sharply in the ribs, and scrunched the material of his waistcoat in her fist, annoyed just thinking about that.

"That's because I've never seen anything so profoundly idiotic in my life." 

"Well, what about Mr Collins?" 

She laughed, and he smiled in response to the sound. 

"All right," She conceded, "Second most profoundly idiotic thing. But I am serious, Darcy, if I am to take this oath then so are you. You think you alone have this fear? You think my own heart could bear the loss of yours?" 

Darcy leaned forward to plant a gentle kiss on the tip of her nose. "I forget sometimes just how much you love me. I always assume that it is I who loves you more, because how could such a magnificent creature love a thing like me?"

She scoffed and reached over to flick his thick hair back from his eyes, cupping his cheek when she'd smoothed it back. "Just a few months ago you were calling me only tolerable and accusing me of being decidedly inferior."

Darcy had the decency to look ashamed. "That was a different man."

"No, I don't think that's the case." She smiled, "You were a great man, even if you were insufferable. But now, I think, you sit before me as good as you are great." 

He laughed, all soft eyes and kind hands, his adoration for her plain on his face. When he stopped laughing, he inspected her arched eyebrows and patient eyes and sighed heavily. 

"I will swear it." He told her, kissing her knuckles to seal the promise. "On my whole heart." He grinned. 

"Then I too, swear it." She pressed her own kiss to his forehead, drawing him forward with her hand curled around the back of his neck. "On my whole heart, and the thing I love most in the entire world." 

"What's that then, I wonder?" 

She paused to consider, "Hot chocolate."

"Is it, indeed?" Darcy's eyebrows rose slowly, eyes narrowing. The grin on his face was wicked.

"Or perhaps the answer is books, maybe they're a tie-"

She shrieked as his hands shot forward and scooped her up, yanking her across the seat and into his lap, where he dropped her unceremoniously and started to assault her with tickling.

 It was a wonder the driver didn't stop to check they weren't being murdered, with all her yelling and Darcy's raucous laughter. She writhed in his grip, begging him at the top of her lungs to seize his assault, but he persisted. 

"All right, all right!" She cried eventually, struggling to battle off his hands as her lungs heaved and her face ached with all the smiling. "I love you most in the world!" 

He stopped immediately, chuckling and clutching his stomach. 

"Wasn't so hard now, was it Miss Bennet?" He grinned. 

She huffed, completely indignant. It was then that she came to realise her position. Elizabeth was curled in his lap, one hand gripping the lapel of his leather coat and the other resting on his shoulder. It was of course a completely innocent position to the two of them, and they'd ended up entwined only because of playfulness, but any onlooker wouldn't assume the same. 

Darcy seemed to realise in the same moment. His arm encircled her back, one hand resting on her waist, the other on her shin. Her dress had been drawn up during the struggle, and his palm settled against warm flesh. Their faces were bent close together, hers flushed pink and his breathing more shallow than usual. 

Elizabeth expected him to draw away, to lift her off and distance himself. But he didn't.

Instead, he cupped her cheek and pulled her closer, pressing his lips lightly against hers. She could not help the eagerness that welled in her stomach and immediately leaned into him, attraction making her heart flutter. Again, she expected him to draw away, and as before he surprised her.

A low sound came from his throat that vibrated through his chest and into Elizabeth's hands. She felt his quiet groan on her tongue, and was pleased to know he wanted her just as she wanted him. With a small gasp of breath she settled deeper into his embrace, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and burying her hands in his hair, her mouth quick against his now, struggling to press closer still.

The position was too awkward, and she couldn't hold onto him in the way she wanted. She wanted them chest to chest, arms tight around each other, she wanted to feel like there was nothing on Earth strong enough to pull them apart. 

Elizabeth took initiative into her own hands and slid from his lap, doing her best not to remove his lips from hers, she twisted and settled back on his lap, knees on either side of his hips. 

"Liz-" He gaped at her, scandalized, but her mouth was soon back on his, and her tongue was in his mouth, and the only sounds he could emit were throaty moans of desire. 

Now she could properly wrap her arms around him, and his arms were around her ribs, one hand twisted up and fisted in her hair. Darcy broke from her mouth to lay waste to her throat, pressing damp kisses to her scorching flesh as she arched up into him, doing her best to contain her moans as his teeth grazed the hollow beneath her neck. 

Her hands were on his biceps, squeezing tight so as to anchor herself. Darcy's hands were settled low on her hips, guiding and encouraging her as she rocked against him. One hand let go and went to the buttons of her cloak, and when he couldn't fumble it open he simply yanked and cast it from her shoulders, buttons scattering to the wooden floor of the carriage. 

His mouth was on her chest then, and his tongue and teeth were ruining any good sense that she had. His coat soon followed her cloak on the floor, and moments later his torso was laid bare as she pride open his waistcoat and shirt. Elizabeth pushed his sinful mouth from her skin and repaid the favour, leaving a trail of red marks from his throat to his collarbones, over the rock hard muscles of his chest, fingers digging into the hard panes of his stomach. 

Darcy's head was tilted back against the seat, eyes squeezed closed and his cheeks glowing scarlet. When she drew back to press kisses to his jaw, his eyes flashed open and his hands lunged for her, and then she was being scooped up yet again, twisted sharply and her back pressed deep into the felt of the seat. 

Elizabeth's breath left her entirely as Darcy settled between her thighs, one hand on her stomach and the other keeping him aloft, his lips pressed briefly to her chest, her throat, her jaw, before he claimed her mouth once again. The feel of his hips grating into hers, of his hard, solid body crushed to hers, was enough to make her dizzy with need and desire. 

His hand dropped, cupping the back of her knee and drawing her leg up, and _Lord above_ that angle was making stars dance in front of her eyes, and his tongue in her mouth was beyond anything she'd ever in her life felt-

Pain lanced through her thigh as his hand brushed against the bandages of her injury. She hissed, drawing away from his lips, and he drew back as he too felt the bandages under his fingers. It took a split second for him to realise, but when he had he disentangled himself from her immediately and drew away, chest heaving and forehead covered in a fine sheen of sweat. 

Elizabeth sat up too, her chest billowing as her lungs struggled for oxygen. She brushed back the mess of her curls, hand to her throat as she blinked in the aftermath of what exactly had happened. 

"Are you all right?" He demanded, reaching for her knee. He seemed to think better of this action and dropped his hand halfway to her skin. "I'm so sorry, Elizabeth, I don't know-" 

"It's all right." She murmured, reaching to squeeze his hand. Both of them had been out of control, he certainly wasn't to blame. "We'll just..." She gulped, "We'll just have to be more careful." 

His eyes were dark and full of lust, but he nodded and tried his best to smile at her softly. With significant slowness, he reached to pull the skirts of her dress back down over her thighs to settle around her ankles. She chuckled, reaching to brush back the dark hair from his damp forehead.

"My leg," She glanced down at the dark spots of blood on her dress.

"I'll do it." He told her.

This seemed to be a test for himself, and though he had to breathe in sharply when he slid her dress high up on her thigh, the sight of the deep slice in her skin settled him, and he went about cleaning the wound and wrapping it back up with precise and quick movements. Elizabeth had to grit her teeth and look away, confident in his practiced hand.

When he finished, he settled back next to her on the seat.

"Darling?" She smirked, "You're still undressed."

He glanced down and blinked, like he'd completely forgotten that his torso was on display and skin bare to her gaze.

"You could have said something sooner." Darcy grumbled.

"And deprive myself of the sight?"

He glared in response, then went about covering himself up.

"Elizabeth." His mutter of irritation surprised her, but she soon saw why and let loose a laugh. "This shirt wasn't _supposed_ to open."

She must have ripped it clean down the middle, though she didn't remember doing it, nor had she heard the sound. Laughing again, she helped hold it together as he tightened the waistcoat over it, effectively pinning it in place until they got back to Rosewood. His leather jacket over the ensemble was enough to hide the rip peaking out from the bottom.

"What on Earth am I going to do with you when we're married?" He sighed as he handed back her cloak. 

"As if you're not counting down the days." She scoffed. 

His grin was wicked as he reached to clasp her hand, but he refused adamantly to touch her anymore than that for the rest of the journey. Her own fault, he insisted, for seducing her all too weak husband-to-be. 


End file.
